V Review: Conventional Story and Predictability Plays the Spoilsport!

Nani, one of my favorite actors from Tollywood, and also one of the precious few actors in Telugu Cinema who can emote well on-screen, debuted as a full-fledged antagonist for the first time in his two-decade-long career. His 25th movie, V, directed by Mohana Krishna Indraganti (who also helmed Nani’s previous film like Ashta Chamma and the super successful – Gentleman), unfortunately, because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic curbed its theatrical release and debuted on Amazon Prime Video after a ton of anticipation. V Review

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V – The Movie also stars the talented Sudheer Babu, Nivetha Thomas, and Aditi Rao Hydari as the primary cast alongside a decent ensemble of a promising supporting cast. On the topic of trying something different, a 25th film is a significant achievement and a dominant milestone in every actor’s career. And portraying a full-fledged negative character for the first time demands some solid story to endorse the star, but, in the case of V, a handful of things did not work out admirably, at least in my humble opinion. Let’s discuss them. V Review

D.C.P Aditya (Sudheer Babu), who is a celebrated cop in Hyderabad, is challenged by a psychotic serial killer to catch him before he kills a certain number of people, and he even leaves clues for him, to make things interesting. As expected, infuriated by the assassin’s guts, Aditya vows to capture him at any cost. Subsequently, the remainder of the film displays how he succeeds in his quest, details the motive of the killer, and how both their lives get intertwined by some past event occurrences. V Review

First off, V – The Movie is predictable for the most part as it lacked a compelling screenplay where you are curious or interested in what is going to happen next. However, you will probably guess the structure of the film and where it is navigating the entire time. Though the film began on a gripping note, it finally concluded as yet another cat and a mouse brawl with several foreseeable twists. Topping to it is the pacing issue, the film wandered aimlessly to focus on the unnecessary and forced the inclusion of Nivetha Thomas’ character.

Despite the mediocre writing, Nani shines inside and out in this film. The man knows to perform and provides exactly what his character requires. He effortlessly pulls off the role that is witty and goes around startling people. Sudheer Babu, on average, had more screen time than Nani and equally performs well as a young and an utterly charismatic police officer. The leading ladies of the film, Nivetha Thomas and Aditi Rao Hydari, serve their purpose well and make their presence feel pleasant and engaging to a certain extent.

Mohana Krishna Indraganti made the film tolerable by presenting it well. He used his technical department wisely to deliver a stylish movie, with well-coordinated camera work, satisfying the action sequences and the entire tone helped it feel better. Furthermore, Mohamaad Ghibran’s background score and Amit Trivedi’s songs contributed to the overall appeal of the film.

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Finally, V is a highly passable movie with nothing new nor exciting to offer. Mohana Krishna Indraganti’s always promising screenwriting ability did not come in handy this time as he failed to present a fresh and an enthralling storyline. If not for the ‘Natural Star’ Nani, and his laudable performance, Sudheer Babu’s charming screen presence, this movie would have been a total disappointment. Watch ‘V’ on Amazon Prime Video here.

Rating – 2.75/5 | Grade – C+

Images via Amazon Prime Video